California Fruit and Vegetable

Tag: California Table Grape Commission

  • U.S. Participants for Philippines Trade Mission Selected

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture will lead a trade mission to Manila, Philippines, from April 13–16, 2026, to expand market access for American farmers, ranchers, and producers.

    This mission follows a landmark trade agreement negotiated by President Trump in July of last year, which opened new opportunities for U.S. agricultural exports to the Philippines. Deputy Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Michelle Bekkering will lead the mission, heading a delegation of 58 U.S. agribusinesses, trade associations, and representatives from four State departments of agriculture.

    “USDA is committed to getting American farmers, ranchers and agribusinesses better access to strong markets and fair opportunities abroad,” said Deputy Undersecretary Bekkering. “Since the Philippines is one of the fastest-growing markets in Asia, this mission will connect U.S. exporters directly with reliable buyers, strengthen our trade relationship, and help keep American agriculture globally competitive.”

    The Philippines is the tenth‑largest market for U.S. agricultural and food products, averaging $3.4 billion in annual exports over the past five years. With a population of 118 million, a rapidly expanding middle class, and strong consumer preference for U.S. products, the Philippines offers enormous growth potential for American exporters.

    During the visit, USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service staff and regional experts will host market briefings, site visits, and business-to-business meetings with buyers from the Philippines.

    State departments of agriculture from Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska and Wisconsin will join the mission alongside the 58 agribusinesses and trade associations, which include:

    1. 7th Sky Ventures LLC – Tampa, Fla.
    2. Aerocos International Ltd – Marlboro, N.J.
    3. American Egg Board – Chicago, Ill.
    4. American Peanut Council – Alexandria, Va.
    5. Best Buy Grocers, Inc. – Sherman Oaks, Calif.
    6. BNutty, Peanut Butter – Portage, Ind.
    7. California Milk Advisory Board – Tracy, Calif.   
    8. California Table Grape Commission – Fresno, Calif.
    9. CAS InterGlobal – Pleasanton, Calif.
    10. Commercial Creamery Company – Spokane, Wash.
    11. Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin – Madison, Wis.
    12. Dragonfly Cakes – Tacoma, Wash.
    13. East-West International Group, Inc –   Moreland Hills, Ohio.
    14. Foodlinx – Brentwood, Calif.
    15. Fort McCoy Meat, LLC – Fort McCoy, Fla.
    16. Galdisa USA – Conroe, Texas
    17. Global Export Marketing Co. Ltd. (GEMCO) – New York, N.Y.
    18. Globex International – New York, N.Y.
    19. Groceries USA – New York, N.Y.
    20. Grove Services – Atlanta, Ga.
    21. Indiana Corn Marketing Council – Indianapolis, Ind.
    22. International Market Brands – Issaquah, Wash.
    23. Intervision Foods – Atlanta, Ga.
    24. Jack’s Alimentary Supply, Inc. (JASI) – Lowell, Mass.
    25. Kizable, LLC – Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
    26. MacDonald Meat – Seattle, Wash.
    27. MEM Fairway Inc. – Irvine, Calif.
    28. Nebraska Corn Board – Lincoln, Neb.
    29. North American Export Grain Association – Washington, D.C.
    30. Ocean Gold Seafoods – Westport, Wash.
    31. Pacific Cheese Co., Inc. – Hayward, Calif.
    32. PacRim Wines & Spirits – San Rafael, Calif.
    33. Potatoes USA – Denver, Colo.
    34. Prime Pecan, LLC – Ocean Springs, Miss.
    35. Raisin Administrative Committee – Fresno, Calif.
    36. Scout & Zoe’s – Anderson, Ind.
    37. Sollarom Foods – Lakewood, Calif.
    38. Southern Forest Products Association – Metairie, La.
    39. Space Enterprises LLC – The Woodlands, Texas
    40. TAG Enterprise Ltd. – Beverly Hills, Calif.
    41. Tomex Foods Group – Lombard, Ill.
    42. Tranect LLC – Boston, Mass.
    43. Trinity Foods, Inc – San Diego, Calif.
    44. U.S. Dairy Export Council – Arlington, Va.
    45. U.S. Grains & BioProducts Council – Washington, D.C.
    46. U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council – Folson, Calif.
    47. U.S. International Foods LLC – St. Louis, Mo.
    48. U.S. Livestock Genetics Export – Mount Horeb, Wis.
    49. U.S. Meat Export Federation – Denver, Colo.
    50. U.S. Soybean Export Council – Chesterfield, Mo.
    51. U.S. Wheat Associates – Arlington, Va.
    52. United Dairy Ingredients Group LLC – Monterey Park, Calif.
    53. US Rice Producers Association – Katy, Texas   
    54. USA Poultry and Egg Export Council – Tucker, Ga.
    55. USA Pulses – Moscow, Idaho
    56. Valley Pride Ag Co. – Fresno, Calif.
    57. Virginia Distillery Co. – Lovingston, Va.
    58. Wonderful Citrus – Delano, Calif.

    In 2025, USDA trade missions connected more than 200 U.S. companies with buyers in Hong Kong, Thailand, Peru, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Taiwan and Mexico, generating projected 12‑month sales of $125 million. USDA will continue expanding export opportunities in 2026 with upcoming missions planned for Australia and Vietnam.

    For more information on USDA trade missions, visit https://www.fas.usda.gov/topics/trade-missions. — By USDA Foreign Ag Service

  • AI Tool to Help Farmers Measure Real-Time Crop Health from the Field

    Leaf Monitor, a new mobile tool backed by artificial intelligence and predictive modeling, could revolutionize how farmers monitor crops and make decisions by providing real-time nutrition and leaf trait information in the field.

    “Having this information is very valuable for the farmers,” said Alireza Pourreza, associate professor of Cooperative Extension and director of the Digital Agriculture Laboratory in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at the University of California, Davis. “In five seconds, they can have a sense of how much nutrition they have in a leaf.”

    Development of the AI model was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s HiRes Vineyard Nutrition multistate project and its Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, as well as the California Table Grape Commission.

    Maha Afifi, director of viticulture research at the California Table Grape Commission, said the tool could be a game changer for the table grape industry if it leads to faster decision-making about fertilizer use. The right amount typically leads to healthier vines that produce more grapes with optimal size, weight and color.

    “The evaluation of vine nutrient status is one of our top priorities,” Afifi said. “At the same time, exploring new technology tools like this project is a high priority for us because they will be important to the future of the table grape industry.”

    Field testing

    The Leaf Monitor tool uses a handheld spectrometer to measure leaf reflectance beyond the range of light visible to the human eye.

    Once a leaf is scanned, its spectral data is uploaded to a cloud-based machine learning system designed to predict leaf traits and nutrient content. This algorithm was developed and trained by the Digital Agriculture Laboratory over five years using a dataset of thousands of leaf samples collected from California’s specialty crops, primarily grapevines and almonds. The samples were chemically analyzed to determine nutrient levels and structural leaf traits, providing the data needed to build an accurate prediction model.

    “Nutrient deficiencies in plants often go unnoticed until late in the season, by which point the damage is already irreversible,” said graduate student Parastoo Farajpoor, who is running the project. “This is why early detection is essential. Spectrometry provides a rapid and reliable way to identify these deficiencies before visible symptoms appear.”

    After a recent demonstration, Bulleseye Farms Irrigation Manager Geoff Klein said the tool could help save money and improve yields. Bullseye grows walnuts, pistachios, tomatoes, corn, wheat, rice and sunflowers in Yolo and Solano counties.

    Tailored crop management

    Currently, farmers typically take leaf samples, dry them, grind them up and send the samples off to a lab for testing, which can take up to two weeks to return results. Bullseye samples leaf tissues about three times a year.

    “Right now, it doesn’t really make sense to go out and take tissues in every single corner just because it’s expensive,” Klein said. “It’d be really cool if I could just walk out there and test a couple of different places.”

    The Leaf Monitor tool helps farmers tailor management decisions to specific areas rather than an entire field. Calibrating fertilizer use to real-time data can prevent overuse and nitrogen runoff, a financial and environmental challenge that many growers face.

    “I feel like there’s a lot of times we do need to put less [fertilizer] on, where we end up putting more, because that’s what the nitrogen removal formula says,” Klein said. “But with this app we can use less because we know the actual conditions at the time. I think it opens a lot of doors in terms of getting data back in real time and also utilizing the level of control we have with the data.”

    The app can also aggregate the scans and map out spatial patterns over a large area.

    “What we know is every field has variability that is not necessarily visible to the farmer’s eye,” Pourreza said.

    The prototype Leaf Monitor tool is free and included in a set of tools that can be downloaded on the Digital Agriculture Laboratory website. A web-based version of the tool will follow while the team continues to feed new data into the algorithm to refine the predictions. On average, it achieves about 65% accuracy across all traits, with predictions for certain nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, performing better than the overall average. Users will need to pair it with a spectrometer.

    “We need to produce more food while using less resources so we need to have some kind of monitoring system to give us precise and accurate feedback on our management practice,” Pourreza said. “This technology is growing very fast.” — By Emily Dooley, UC Davis

  • Bills to Support Central Valley Specialty Crop Producers Reintroduced

    Congressman David Valadao (CA-22) has reintroduced two bipartisan bills to improve the domestic specialty crop industry—the Specialty Crop Domestic Market Promotion Program Act and the Specialty Crop Mechanization Assistance Act. California produces the most specialty crops in the country in both quantity and diversity, with over 400 commodities produced in the state per year. These bills would make technology and resources available so they can access new markets and remain competitive.

    Congressman Valadao originally introduced these bills in the 118th Congress.

    “Specialty crops are a cornerstone of Central Valley agriculture, but due to challenges like labor shortages, supply chain disruptions, and rising costs, it’s been difficult for farmers to stay competitive,” said Congressman Valadao. “We need to ensure our growers are best equipped to handle these obstacles, and these bills will give them the tools needed to expand into new markets, invest in modern technology, and continue putting fresh, nutritious food on tables across the country.”

    “CFFA is again proud to have worked with the California Table Grape Commission to co-lead this collaborative effort to promote U.S. produce domestically and help equip our farmers with the tools and technologies they need to thrive in a rapidly changing world. I would like to thank Congressman Valadao for reintroducing these bills that aim to support the modern needs of American agriculture. These bills will support farmers and their employees to ensure that America continues to be a global leader in agricultural production,” said President of the California Fresh Fruit Association, Daniel Hartwig.

    “California table grape growers are grateful to Congressman Valadao for his leadership in reintroducing the Specialty Crop Domestic Market Promotion Program Act and the Specialty Crop Mechanization Assistance Act. These measures address two of the most pressing challenges our industry faces—expanding consumer demand and addressing critical labor shortages. Investments in market development will help ensure consumers know when U.S.-grown produce is in season and available, while mechanization assistance will support growers in overcoming labor challenges. Together, these efforts strengthen the competitiveness of U.S. specialty crops, provide consumers with greater access to healthy, nutritious produce, and support the long-term viability of family farms in California and across the nation,”

    said President of the California Table Grape Commission, Ian LeMay.

    Additional co-sponsors include: Rep. Josh Harder (CA-09), Rep. Julia Brownley (CA-26), Rep. Jimmy Panetta (CA-21), and Rep. Doug LaMalfa (CA-01).

    The Specialty Crop Domestic Market Promotion Program Act would create a program that helps specialty crop producers market their products to access American markets. It replicates the popular Market Access Program (MAP) through USDA’s Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS) specifically for specialty crop producers to break into niche domestic markets.

    Read the full text of the bill here.

    The Specialty Crop Mechanization Assistance Act makes it easier for specialty crop producers to remain competitive in the face of labor shortages by making expensive automation technology more accessible to producers. This bill aims to create a reimbursement-based cost-share program which would permit growers and processors to invest more in these time and money-saving technologies.

    Read the full text of the bill here.